Contents

As a part of the Tikonov Lancersbrigade, the Fourth Tikonov Lancers could claim a line of direct descent from some of the first military units to be formed outside of the Terran Alliance. Despite a number of regiments from the brigade being transfered to the Star League Defense Force, deactivating those regiments within the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces, it was considered unacceptable to create a new regiment of Lancers when the traditions of a former regiment could be revived. This helped to maintain the perceived connection between each regiment and the history of the Lancers all the way back to the earliest days of the Tikonov Union.[2]

Before the Age of War the Fourth Lancers were given responsibility for evicting foreign settlements from worlds with Tikonov colonies; the expectation that the Fourth would remove foreigners by force and at gunpoint if needed soon led to the Fourth being manned by personnel assigned to the regiment due to their lack of compassion and general callousness. By the time the Age of War arrived the Fourth had earned the nickname "Coreward Reapers", a consequence of the regular massacres of local populations suspected of harboring anti-Capellan resistance forces and their willingness to force those considered undesirable into exile on outbound cargo DropShips headed for destinations outside Capellan space. The adoption of the Ares Conventions limited the worst excesses of the Fourth, but as recently as two decades prior to the Reunification War the Fourth were still forcibly relocating civilians. When the high command deemed it ncessary to try and moderate the Fourth's brutal tactics it often resorted to deploying a sister regiment known for their courteous and compassionate conduct towards vanquished enemy, the Seventh Tikonov Lancers, also known as "The Righteous Horde".[2]

It was during the Age of War that Franco Liao purged the noble trained bands that had been dominated by the families of the Tikonov Tetrarchs and sheng nobility, removing their influence from the various Tikonov Lancers regiments with varying degrees of success.[2]

In addition to the brutality for which the Fourth were well-known, the regiment also displayed the rigid doctrines and inflexible character that typified the Tikonov Lancers as a brigade and martial tradition.[2]